Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
Howdy,
Thought I'd tell everyone how I turned my original Italian headlight into one compliant for my left-hand traffic roads.
I couldn't find any new headlights anywhere but ended up at a Fiat mechanic who did a few spare parts. He had a small but lovingly stored collection of rusty old Fiat 126 left-hand traffic headlights and told me how to remove the glass from one and swap it with mine. The reason for swapping the glass was because his headlight reflector was shot and mine is perfect, with an H4 lamp fitment (the dipping direction is all done by the pattern on the glass, the reflectors are all the same).
It's pretty easy, you start by carefully grinding away the steel reflector to cut off just the part that surrounds the glass. You should now have the glass lense with just a narrow strip of steel around it like a band. Remove that like peeling open a sardine tin. Now you can clean it up with steel wool or scotch brite or whatever and start on the right-hand traffic light. Remove the glass from your original headlight by hitting it with a hammer. Do it carefully so you don't damage the lampshade inside or scratch the reflector. Dig out the silicone from the edges the clean it nicely.
Now install your recovered lense glass by applying a thin bead of silicone in the recess on the reflector, replace the lampshade, and push the glass into place (make sure it's the right way up...) and then fill the recess up to the top and smooth off so it looks like a proper headlight again. Leave it to set thoroughly before refitting.
Done job!
My headlight now complies and works pretty well with a 100watt lamp, possibly not as good as a proper new one but still heaps better!
Thought I'd tell everyone how I turned my original Italian headlight into one compliant for my left-hand traffic roads.
I couldn't find any new headlights anywhere but ended up at a Fiat mechanic who did a few spare parts. He had a small but lovingly stored collection of rusty old Fiat 126 left-hand traffic headlights and told me how to remove the glass from one and swap it with mine. The reason for swapping the glass was because his headlight reflector was shot and mine is perfect, with an H4 lamp fitment (the dipping direction is all done by the pattern on the glass, the reflectors are all the same).
It's pretty easy, you start by carefully grinding away the steel reflector to cut off just the part that surrounds the glass. You should now have the glass lense with just a narrow strip of steel around it like a band. Remove that like peeling open a sardine tin. Now you can clean it up with steel wool or scotch brite or whatever and start on the right-hand traffic light. Remove the glass from your original headlight by hitting it with a hammer. Do it carefully so you don't damage the lampshade inside or scratch the reflector. Dig out the silicone from the edges the clean it nicely.
Now install your recovered lense glass by applying a thin bead of silicone in the recess on the reflector, replace the lampshade, and push the glass into place (make sure it's the right way up...) and then fill the recess up to the top and smooth off so it looks like a proper headlight again. Leave it to set thoroughly before refitting.
Done job!
My headlight now complies and works pretty well with a 100watt lamp, possibly not as good as a proper new one but still heaps better!